1. Managing shifting sands in education: A challenge and/or opportunity for educational leadership EMASA 2011: Cape Town South Africa A presentation by: Freddy James (Ph.D) Lecturer in Education Leadership, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad

2. Overview of the presentation 1.Deconstruct the metaphor of shifting sand by:  Analyzing the impact of shifting sands 2.Discuss whether it is a challenge and /or opportunity for educational leadership 3.Propose a model for leading educational change

3. The impact of the change depends on….

4. Whether the change is: real or symbolic?

5. The location and environment Whether it is in an open space: Easily displaced Whether it is in a contained space: Supported by a structure

6. Location Environment Context

7. Internal External Sustainability The nature of context Context

8. Resources Human material Capacity Building Professional development Relationships Leadership Vision Value-laden Culture Internal Context The internal context includes

9. Political Policy Equity and Equality Economic Sustainability Funding Social Support systems Culture and community External Environment The external context includes

10. A deliberate attempt to change Unintentional: caused by changes in either: 1. the internal or 2.external environment Change occurs through…

11. All change poses a challenge: It is something to surmount Whether the challenge is surmountable depends on: 1.How flexible the organization is 2.Whether the internal structures are: Strong Weak 3.The capacity of the organization 4.The commitment 5.Culture 6.The people and 7.The relationship 8.The response to change

12. BUT…. Regardless of the nature or sources of the change Whether small or big… Change needs to be managed (Fullan, 2000)

13. AND…. All change presents an opportunity for educational leadership

14. Reforms fail when the school leadership is ineffective, unsustainable and not focused on capacity building and empowerment. Why reforms fail? Effective leadership is necessary to facilitate mediating variables such as teacher motivation, classroom activities, school culture and organizational direction, all of which impact on teaching and learning and influences student outcomes,

15. Not only is effective internal leadership in the school important for improvement, but equally as important is the relationship between the external and internal leadership when both are engaged in the reform process. (Chrispeels and Harris, 2006)

16. In order to be effective school leaders require: training in basic leadership practices; acumen to be responsive to the contexts within which they work the ability to distribute leadership and the capacity to motivate and gain staff commitment. Leadership is about ensuring that schools have the capacity to improve and sustain the improvement (Hargreaves, 2007 and Harris & Lambert, 2003)

17. Leaders build this capacity by empowering all members within the organisation to lead and develop. This occurs through establishing professional learning communities based on trust and meaningful relationships, with the concomitant organisational arrangements,

18. Why reforms fail? Reforms can fail when the locus of control resides outside the school, whereby those who have to lead, implement and manage change lack the autonomy and authority to make the necessary adjustments for the reform to be successful. (James, 2008)

19. This is why externally imposed reform tends not to work However... Externally generated reform can work, if it acknowledges that the change process must be owned, developed and managed at the instructional core and allows the change to emanate from within, with support from without.

20. Why reforms fail? Reforms fail when policy makers fail to recognise that SI is context-specific and cultural in nature. Schools should not be viewed as a homogeneous group. In recognition of the singularity of each school, the focus of improvement efforts should relate to the contextual factors existing within a particular school at a particular point in time

21. Leadership as vision “The current emphasis on vision in leadership can be misleading. Vision can blind leaders in a number of ways…Principals are blinded by their own vision when they feel they must manipulate the teachers and the school culture to conform to it.” (Fullan, 1999)

22. Leadership as values ‘Good leaders are informed by and communicate clear sets of personal and educational values which represent their moral purposes for the school.’ (Day et al, 2001 p.53)

23. ‘Leadership is not the preserve of an individual but results from multiple interactions at different points in the organization.’ (Spillane 2006 & Harris, 2006) Leadership for the many rather than the few

24. Influence on leadership practice

25. ‘Is a shared responsibility, that does not unduly deplete human or financial resources, and that cares for and avoids exerting negative damage on the surrounding educational and community environment.’ (Hargreaves and Fink, 2003 p. 3)

26. A model for leading educational change A model premised on collaboration that does not only exist at the school level, but ‘…that such collaborations have to reach out to the wider community..’ (Ainscow and West, 2006) And should transform those stakeholders ‘…who remain on the margins of the system into full participants. (Ainscow and West, 2006)

27. The model seeks to unite all the agents of change, that is, policy makers, schools supervisors, teachers, principals, community leaders and parents, in a way that fosters collaboration, shared meanings and purposes among them, with a focus on improving teaching and learning in all schools.

28. The model suggests an approach to school improvement that is school-based, with schools as the centre of change supported collaboratively by the wider community Including the central education agency and other schools within communities. This model suggests a hybrid mixed approach that includes elements of both centralization and decentralization, with schools developing strategies for improvement in conjunction with support from the educational district and central ministry.

29. Role of Government Resource provision Capacity building Support Accountability Leadership Administration MOE & Governmental Agencies External funding agencies Policy development and Implementation Unit School staff Parents Students District Community negotiation feedback Role of District Monitoring Capacity building Supervision Support Accountability Leadership Role of School Focus on Student Learning Effective School Leadership Effective Teaching and Learning Accountability Collaborative Practice Implementation of relevant improvement initiatives A Model of School Improvement for Trinidad and Tobago

30. In a non-prescriptive way the model creates the conditions and environment for the process of such negotiations to take place whereby common purposes and meanings can be established, which can lead to the affirmative action that brings about improvement in schools.

31. It is recognized that the model itself will not engender improvement in student outcomes, this is dependent on the will and commitment of stakeholders to change and effect change through negotiation among themselves and students, (Levin, 2008).

32. So what? You must manage the shifting sand You must commit to taking the lead You must create the movement that cause s the tsunami Ngygi Watiog: Unless the grain of wheat goes into the earth and dies it cannot bear fruit You did it for social justice, now do it for education